After finishing the breakfast, Amanda continued talking with other people.

"You heard about that Haaz child? She recently came in here and has been following that woman with the large hat and with the maid?" asked Aster.
"Oh, yes. I heard that kid just wandered into the Fort. I can't help but feel some radiant, unknown power from it. Hopefully she won't tear the whole keep on us. I also noticed how that grey-skinned man allied himself with that soldier." Vladik pointed at those people and drank some more beer. Amanda frowned, seeing how they made alliances, but she ignored all of that.
"People have their own desires to join. Oh well, none of my business." Amanda shook her head and drank some more milk.

The captain arrived with some papers.
"Okay, team. These are the orders from the general. He made it clear mercenaries are to investigate what happened. We, the army squad, are to go to Connin as well, but to try to rescue whatever can be rescued, be it supplies, people or whatever can be found there."
"Sum action. Gut." Logan held his thumbs up they were to get out of the keep.
"One more thing. Stick together. For all we know, the enemy could still be hiding in the town. Fortunately, we are to get some assistance from other squads."

"Well, those two were certainly dense, what are they statues,", Lucy muttered, "I must have stood right next to them for six minutes."

She sat down on a crate near the gate, and let out a pained sigh. Her gut had started cramping and her mood plummeted with it. She tapped her hourglass.

"Perhaps I should wait until the paranoia cools down", she mused. Looking into her hourglass she attempted to mentally draw a new idea.
____________
"Don't resist the force. Redirect it. Water over rock."-blizzardboy

The marketplace itself was busy, swarming with other sellswords looking to empty their coinpurses before the combat actions start.
While Gulston left off to get some supplies, Zayl browsed the stalls that offered some more exotic goods. Various tomes, scrolls and trinkets alike.
But nothing had caught his eye. All of them seemed to be just plain forgeries made by swindlers for selling to any would be adventurer.
But Zayl purchased some thing after all. a new wineskin, as well as wine to fill it with. and of course some provisions as well.
____________
Lithuanian folklore:
The Good and the Evil grab a few beers and go to watch how the neighbor's house is burning down.
* * *
"Ashan to the Trashcan", "I got PTSD from H7. " - LizardWarrior

Amanda rode with her squad on the road. Suddenly, out of the woods, a cloaked figure steps on the road, blocking their way.

"Please, step out of the way. We are on an important mission right now." the captain waved his hand for the figure to move out. However, the figure stood still.
"I only came here for that girl, Amanda." Seeing there was nothing much they could do, Amanda came down from her horse.
"What do you want? We don't have much time, we must be off to Connin."
The figure did not say anything and removed her cloak, revealing to be someone they know already.

"Sylvia! What are you doing in here?" the captain demanded the answer.

Sylvia, however, did not reply and wavered her hand, then released a black sphere on Amanda. Amanda dodged the attack, causing the sphere to hit a rock, causing it to disappear.

"I should've known. The fifth spellcaster, proficient in Void Magic." Amanda stood up and used Fire Bolt spell, which she learned at the training camp. Unfortunately, Sylvia creates a portal, which absorbs the attack. Sylvia creates a purple sphere and uses it on the ground, which throws Amanda away.

"We have to help her!" Aster tried to ride off, and so did Vladik.
"Wait, no!" the captain tries to stop them, but Sylvia turns on them and creates two portals. Since they could not stop their horses in time, both Vladik and Aster enter the dark portal, which closes.

With Amanda on the ground, Sylvia creates a black sphere that targets Amanda. However, Amanda notices her bracelet is glowing and touches it. Amanda feels hope, as the bracelet emits a shiny butterfly. The butterfly immediately flies off to Sylvia and spreads its glitter around, distracting her. Sylvia wavers her hands and banishes the butterfly. In such distraction, Amanda managed to stand up and run off to Sylvia, stabbing her through her heart.

Sylvia makes no motion and dissipates in a dark cloud.

Amanda was exhausted. "Hopefully none of this will happen in Connin."
"Wat 'bout Astar and Vlad'?" Logan was terrified of the event and was even shaking.
"I do not think they died, but simply crossed a portal, maybe even to another world. I don't know much about Void Magic, since it is rare to find a spellcaster with such powers." the captain replied.
"I don't think that was Sylvia. Otherwise, she'd belittle us, especially me. I'm more inclined to say she duplicated herself, knowing we'd go to Connin. And I do believe we will see her again." Amanda went back on her horse, as she, the captain and Logan rode away to Connin.

On her way, Amanda gazed at her bracelet, wondering what that power was. But she does recall that old woman's words how the bracelet's power can grow and imagines riding a large bird, soaring in the sky as they watch over her imaginary kingdom.

"He is the highest authority of the Karston forces situated on this Island and I have an audience with him in an hour" Narsila said as she walked in on the two. "now Missy, If you are to join us I'd like you to be at your best behaviour. I want you to stay close to us when we're inside the Keep so don't go running off. It could be dangerous in there and I don't want you to get in trouble, understand?"

"Oh I'm not scared, I have friends to help if I'm in danger. But I'll stay close to you. This is so exciting! We're going on a field trip! Last time I was on a field trip, our ship sunk and my teacher died! And the time before that... no wait, that was the first one... Field Trip!!"
____________
geny is a meanie - fred79

"What they teach everyone of course. Counting, reading, opening portals to other places to one day conquer the world, writing. Didn't they teach you all of that when you were a child?"
____________
geny is a meanie - fred79

Gulston was browsing the stands in the marketplace, looking for supplies, for food. Most of the villagers were selling what vegetables they could harvest in the early springtime, while there were only a few with fish and meat. Gulston stocked up on smoked meat and bread, some onions and a few radishes. He carried all of the food in a sack he had bought from a peddler, and marked it by inscribing a large "G" at the bottom with a piece of coal.

Now ready for the trip, Gulston went looking for Zayl.
"I'm done here. How about you?" the swordsman said as he approached him.
____________

- We're all set- Zayl said. - Let's go find that cart.
The passage itself was more confortable than Zayl expected. It seemed a bad idea to travel by cart on the open road, given the possibility of an ambush. Still, the journey was safe and boring.

Soon enough they arrived at the still smoldering remains of Connin.
- Well, We guess it's time to smell the ashes.- Zayl said while disembarking the cart.
____________
Lithuanian folklore:
The Good and the Evil grab a few beers and go to watch how the neighbor's house is burning down.
* * *
"Ashan to the Trashcan", "I got PTSD from H7. " - LizardWarrior

Ashes, dust and rubble were all that was left of the port town. Piles of wood that were parts of houses slowly smoldered and sank into the mud. The recruitment office, the only building in the town made completely out of stone, still stood in the same place, undamaged.

But there were no bodies. Not even a sign of a conflict could be found. There was no blood on the streets, no weapons laying around or any markings of a fight.

The cart driver held to his dagger as he observed the surroundings. Gulston got off the cart and immediately unsheated his sword. He looked around the ruins, looking for any movement, but the scene was still and quiet apart from the crackling sounds of fire.
"I've seen fresh ruins like these, but they at least had corpses in them. This is highly suspicious. Keep your guard up", he said and proceeded deeper into the town. The streets were narrow, and with all of the rubble on them, barely even traversable. The silence was unnerving, it was as if the whole place was disconnected from the rest of the world. No birds could be heard, or any other animal for that matter.
Inside one of the houses that didn't collapse fully, Gulston found everything in place - the table, chairs, beds. All of the belongings of the family that lived there stood in their spot. The same went for every other house he searched.

"I truly don't know what to make of this", Gulston said as he returned to the cart, "I've found no corpses at all, and it doesn't appear that there was a conflict here. We'd best check the docks and the watch tower for any clues."
____________

"Ah, so you know Void magic then? Not the portal part, no. In fact, my teachers were rather adamant in that I do not learn it. Well, except the one but he didn't know how to do it either"

Amelia changed expression from a sober one to a more shocked one as the conversation continued. She was no in the company of a Haaz who also knew Void magic. things probably couldn't get weirder at this point. She didn't get much time to think about it though as her mistress decided to her to fetch Missy some breakfast. Just as well, she needed some time to process yesterday and this morning so she left the two alone.

As she left, Maron turned to Missy again. "Void magic is not easy to learn and control. Are you confident in your abilities? For while I might not be a voidmancer, I am quite knowledgeable in magic myself and would be glad to assist you if you so require"

"Thanks, but I'll be fine. I've studied it since I was little. And I am very good at it." Missy raised her head with a look of pride exaggerated pride only a child could make, "but what magic do you know? I've seen other magics before, but I never learned any of it. People made fire dance and shadows move, it was soooooo pretty."
____________
geny is a meanie - fred79

"I have had education in all the accepted forms of magic and understand the principals of them all and can utilize them at a basic level, however I've specialized in healing magic and am quite accomplished in it. I have also read up a bit of the theory of shadow magic to help me understand magic as a whole, seeing as it is supposedly the raw source of magic as a whole but I can't say it has helped me all that much"

The captain, Logan and Amanda continued their way to Connin. Amanda, however, was gazing at her bracelet.

"I do recall these bracelets were founded by some ancient order or something. Apparently, you have to bond with an animal to unlock new powers." the captain stated, being interested in the bracelet.
"Hold on then." Amanda stopped and took out the notebook and wrote: "Note 2: Go to Connin. Investigate the attack. Try to bond with a enormous creature." Once finished, the group continued towards Connin.

After some moments, they arrived to Connin. It was razed to the ground, except for the recruitment building.

"Eugh, tis' worse than I i-mage-ined." Logan nearly vomited, but managed to keep that inside of him.

The group walked through the razed town. They found nothing and nobody, except for the destroyed buildings.

"I have my suspicions. Logan, what kind of magic did Sylvia use?" Amanda asked.
"V-void." Logan started shaking.
"And what does the Void magic do?"
"Dis-appears stuff." Logan continued shaking, being nervous by the surroundings.
"What do you suggest? That Sylvia attacked the town?" the captain asked.
"Not exactly. I am thinking a band of people, possibly involving Sylvia, must've casted everyone through oblivion and have burned most of the buildings. Though Sylvia seems to attack anything that annoys her. All of this... makes me frightened."
"Since there is nobody we can find, we have no choice but to investigate."

Speaking this, Amanda recalls how the dark priests created her. She recalls only darkness and shades, but also the tools they used to experiment on her. There was dark magic involved back then, and here as well.

Fortunately, the trio found two men, one swordsman and the other having grey skin. "State your buis-" Before the captain could speak, he noticed badges those two were wearing, while Amanda saw these people were the ones she tried to join back in the tavern, when she first came to Connin.

"Oh, so you must be mercenaries. We are from Karston army. Would you like if we accompany you, to find more about this incident?" the captain proposed to the two men.

- Most unusual indeed - He said to himself. Zayl walked around the smoldering ruins for some more time, then went on to find Gulston.

- We may have a theory - He said. - We believe this attack was staged using sorcery. There's no other explanation. So corpses, no signs of struggle. The enemy must have some Voidmancy adepts in it's ranks.
____________
Lithuanian folklore:
The Good and the Evil grab a few beers and go to watch how the neighbor's house is burning down.
* * *
"Ashan to the Trashcan", "I got PTSD from H7. " - LizardWarrior

The captain nodded. "Yes, we also think the same. These must've been no simple soldiers to attack the town." He then turned to Amanda and Logan: "Logan, you will be coming with me; we are to search through these ruins. Amanda, please accompany these mercenaries."

"Yes, m'lord." Amanda saddled off the horse.
"You may want to check out the recruitment office. There should be a good reason why it hasn't been burned to the ground." the captain and Logan walked away, while Amanda turns to the mercenaries.

"Huh, I thought I saw you in this town's tavern a day or so ago. My name is Amanda. What's your names?"